For students with learning disabilities
There are a range of built-in features on the Mac that help accommodate for learning disabilities and improve academic performance.
To help students stay focused and organised, the Finder can be customised to provide important information with either images or text and sized to display a smaller or greater number of files. Spotlight, a searching feature built into the Mac, is accessible with a simple keyboard shortcut and finds all files related to the search term by typing just a few letters. With iCal, the Mac calendar application, students can easily create to-do lists and get automatic reminders so they don't miss assignment deadlines. And Spaces is a unique feature that lets students organise applications and documents into separate virtual areas for each subject.
Students struggling with reading comprehension can use Text to Speech to hear a word or paragraph as they’re seeing it onscreen. It works with all applications that support the Mac OS X Speech engine. The integrated Oxford dictionary and thesaurus, along with spell check and word completion, are useful tools that help reinforce correct word usage.
iLife ’09 can be a great addition to traditional forms of classroom self-expression. This fully integrated family of applications makes it easy for students to creatively express their ideas through videos, photos, music, speech, podcasts, websites and more. And it’s included with every new Mac.
Setting up the Desktop and Finder
Learn about features that help students better see items on the computer screen. Watch the video
Low vision features in Mac OS X
Learn about Apple's Zoom feature along with other OS X features for low vision. Watch the video
For vision-impaired students
Thanks to features designed into the Mac OS X Leopard operating system, students can easily change the resolution of their display, customise the contrast of their screen and increase the size of the cursor or Dock. But that’s just the beginning.
A feature called Zoom allows students to magnify the entire screen up to 40x using the scroll wheel on a mouse, a trackpad gesture and key commands. Text, graphics and even video can be magnified without affecting system performance. Students can choose from three modes of interacting with a magnified screen — arrow centered on screen; screen follows arrow; or screen moves only when you reach an edge.
Mac comes prepared with speech technology, such as talking alerts (which speak the contents of dialogs and alerts), Text to Speech (which speaks selected text passages) and even a talking clock and calculator, all using our patented voice that delivers natural intonation even at extraordinarily fast speaking rates.
For students with a visual impairment or cognitive disability, there’s VoiceOver, a built-in screen access technology that is comprehensive, reliable and simple to use. VoiceOver gives students spoken descriptions of what’s onscreen and allows them to control their computer using only the keyboard. VoiceOver settings can be customised and a student’s preferences can be saved on a USB flash drive and applied to a different Mac. VoiceOver also supports over 30 different models of refreshable Braille displays and exhibits spoken output as text or Braille onscreen, allowing for better collaboration with sighted students.
For students with physical or motor
skill disabilities
The unique Multi-Touch technology built into every new MacBook computer makes it easier than ever for students to navigate the screen, zoom in on text, flip through a photo library or fine-tune an image using simple gestures.
For students who struggle using a mouse or trackpad, Apple has invested many years developing keyboard features that have now become industry standards. Mouse Keys allows students to control the mouse pointer, navigate menus, windows, toolbars, palettes and other controls using the keys on a numeric keypad. Students with difficulty typing can avoid errors and multiple keystrokes by activating Slow Keys, which adds a delay between when a key is pressed and when its action is accepted. With Sticky Keys, students who struggle to press multiple keys simultaneously for keyboard shortcuts can enter key combinations (such as Shift-Command-H to go to your Safari home page) in sequence.
Using Apple’s exclusive Automator application, complex, routine tasks that might frustrate some students can be run with a single click. Simply record the task once and Automator will perform each step perfectly, repeatedly, every time.
Adjusting mouse
and trackpad sensitivity
Learn how to help students with motor disabilities get the most out of their Mac. Watch the video
Improving keyboard efficiency
Learn now to use Sticky Keys, Slow Keys and other keyboard features. Watch the video
For hearing-impaired students
Mac OS X Leopard comes with a host of useful features for students with hearing disabilities, including Flash Screen, which uses a visual indication (instead of an audio tone) to let students know that an application requires attention.
With a Mac, displaying open and closed captioning in QuickTime and DVD Player is a simple process. Students can watch downloadable movies and captioned iTunes content on just about every product Apple makes, including iPod, iPhone and even QuickTime for Windows.
Every MacBook and iMac is equipped with a built-in camera and Apple’s exclusive iChat software. iChat allows students to collaborate in real time with teachers or other students using text messages or video conferencing. Students can participate in multiple chats at the same time, engage in group chats, share their work with others during a chat session and even simultaneously edit the same document. The frame rate and video quality of iChat are such that students can communicate using sign language.
Photo Booth gives students another way to communicate using sign language. With one mouse click, a student can record a video message. Then with a second click, that video can be emailed to others.
iPod, mobile learning for all
In the hands of a student with disabilities, an iPod nano, iPod shuffle or iPod touch can be a powerful and accessible learning tool. With its ability to distribute lessons and lectures, play instructional podcasts and access educational content oniTunes U, iPod is unlike any other MP3 player.
iPod touch (and the iPhone) includes a high-resolution Multi-Touch screen, making it ideal for those who have difficulty using a traditional keyboard and mouse. iPod touch can run thousands of educational apps available in the App Store, including applications created specifically for accessibility. iPod nano and iPod shuffle include a spoken feedback feature that makes it possible for sight-impaired students to easily find a track or playlist and download content.
Coming soon: More accessible than ever
This fall, the next generation of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, will advance accessibility even further with a new set of powerful features Learn more
